Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
70 Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid! 2-3 They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me! 4 But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!” 5 But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.
1 Amos was a herdsman living in the village of Tekoa. All day long he sat on the hillsides watching the sheep, keeping them from straying.[a]
2 One day, in a vision, God told him some of the things that were going to happen to his nation, Israel. This vision came to him at the time Uzziah was king of Judah and while Jeroboam (son of Joash) was king of Israel—two years before the earthquake.
This is his report of what he saw and heard: The Lord roared—like a ferocious lion from his lair—from his Temple on Mount Zion. And suddenly the lush pastures of Mount Carmel withered and dried, and all the shepherds mourned.
3 The Lord says, “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave her unpunished anymore. For they have threshed my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron rods. 4 So I will set fire to King Hazael’s palace, destroying the strong fortress of Ben-hadad. 5 I will snap the bars that locked the gates of Damascus and kill her people as far away as the plain of Aven, and the people of Syria shall return to Kir[b] as slaves.” The Lord has spoken.
6 The Lord says, “Gaza has sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave her unpunished anymore. For she sent my people into exile, selling them as slaves in Edom. 7 So I will set fire to the walls of Gaza, and all her forts shall be destroyed. 8 I will kill the people of Ashdod and destroy Ekron and the king of Ashkelon; all Philistines left will perish.” The Lord has spoken.
9 The Lord says, “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they broke their treaty with their brother, Israel; they attacked and conquered him, and led him into slavery to Edom. 10 So I will set fire to the walls of Tyre, and it will burn down all his forts and palaces.”
11 The Lord says, “Edom has sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave him unpunished anymore. For he chased his brother, Israel, with the sword; he was pitiless in unrelenting anger. 12 So I will set fire to Teman, and it will burn down all the forts of Bozrah.”[c]
13 The Lord says, “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For in their wars in Gilead to enlarge their borders they committed cruel crimes, ripping open pregnant women with their swords.
14 “So I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah, and it will burn down their forts and palaces; there will be wild shouts of battle like a whirlwind in a mighty storm. 15 And their king and his princes will go into exile together.” The Lord has spoken.
2 The Lord says, “The people of Moab have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they desecrated the tombs of the kings of Edom, with no respect for the dead. 2 Now in return I will send fire upon Moab, and it will destroy all the palaces in Kerioth. Moab shall go down in tumult as the warriors shout and trumpets blare. 3 And I will destroy their king and slay all the leaders under him.” The Lord has spoken.
4 The Lord says, “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they have rejected the laws of God, refusing to obey him. They have hardened their hearts and sinned as their fathers did. 5 So I will destroy Judah with fire and burn down all Jerusalem’s palaces and forts.”
6 Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down upon the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire so that one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass.
8-9 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and what appeared to be a huge burning mountain was thrown into the sea, destroying a third of all the ships; and a third of the sea turned red as blood;[a] and a third of the fish were killed.
10 The third angel blew, and a great flaming star fell from heaven upon a third of the rivers and springs. 11 The star was called “Bitterness”[b] because it poisoned a third of all the water on the earth and many people died.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and immediately a third of the sun was blighted and darkened, and a third of the moon and the stars so that the daylight was dimmed by a third, and the nighttime darkness deepened. 13 As I watched, I saw a solitary eagle flying through the heavens crying loudly, “Woe, woe, woe to the people of the earth because of the terrible things that will soon happen when the three remaining angels blow their trumpets.”
9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw one who had fallen to earth from heaven,[c] and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from some huge furnace, and the sun and air were darkened by the smoke.
3 Then locusts came from the smoke and descended onto the earth and were given power to sting like scorpions. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees, but to attack those people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not to kill them, but to torture them for five months with agony like the pain of scorpion stings. 6 In those days men will try to kill themselves but won’t be able to—death will not come. They will long to die—but death will flee away!
7 The locusts looked like horses armored for battle. They had what looked like golden crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like men’s. 8 Their hair was long like women’s, and their teeth were those of lions. 9 They wore breastplates that seemed to be of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had stinging tails like scorpions, and their power to hurt, given to them for five months, was in their tails. 11 Their king is the Prince of the bottomless pit whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (and in English, the Destroyer).[d]
12 One terror now ends, but there are two more coming!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.